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Daft Punk – Random Access Memories album review *WARNING LONG REVIEW*

Finally after eight years of waiting for the next studio album, Daft Punk have stopped the wait and released Random Access Memories on 20th May 2013. The album was available to preview on iTunes, which I listened to as I just couldn’t wait to have money to buy myself a copy (although I can safely say I have one now!)

A little bit of bio and some facts about Daft Punk, incase you didn’t know!

Daft punk consists of two French guys called Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (the one who wears the gold helmet) and Thomas Bangalter (the one with the silver helmet).

The music genre they play is classed as house, although it does have elements of electronica, disco, funk and synthpop.

Although it seems like more, Daft Punk has only brought out 4 studio albums. Homework in 1997, Discovery in 2001, Human After All in 2005 and of course Random Access Memories in 2013.

Recognise this from the late 90’s? Well Thomas Bangalter was behind it! This was the only song Stardust brought out, but still to this day it’s one of my favourite songs.

In 2003 Discovery was turned into a Japanese-French anime film called Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem. There isn’t any speech throughout the film and in the order they appear on the album, the songs are created into different scenes and thus create the whole film. If you haven’t watched it, I recommend it, but if you’ve watched Daft Punk music videos, you’ll recognise the blue guys (and girl).

As many know, Daft Punk created the entire Tron: Legacy soundtrack, which was amazing! It was so great that they made an appearance in the film too.

The two make an appearance in the game DJ Hero, which came out in 2009. The game contains 11 new mixes which feature their songs, as well as other artists. The duo are also available to play as after you play their set in the game, which is pretty cool.

A group of chiptune/8-bit artists got together and created Volume 1 and 2 of Da Chip, Daft Punk songs in 8-bit versions. Both volumes are amazing and free to download! Some great chiptune/8-bit artists appear such as Sabrepulse, Knife City, Stage7 and more! Here’s the link to their website if you want to check them out and download the volumes.

Finally over the years Daft Punks costumes have changed, probably not enough for you to notice, but in total they’ve had four changes. If you’re curious how they’ve changed, check this website out! They’re amazing for any information about Daft Punk and I view it weekly for updates.

The first thing I can say about this album is how Daft Punk has changed their sound slightly to create a disco, electronic, funk sound and as usual, Daft Punk got it perfect! The album is being said to pay tribute to the late 1970’s – early 1980’s, which I didn’t realise until I read said statement. Plus the fact that the duo got Giovanni Giorgio on board, who at the start of “Giorgio by Moroder” talks about how he went from low to high with his own musical career, which of course started in the late 1960’s, early 1970’s.

Daft Punk got some well-known artists together, both young and old to help them create this album. Giovanni Giorgio who has worked with many artists over the years, one of these being Donna Summer. Julian Casablancas, singer of The Strokes features on “Instant Crush” for the vocals, as does Pharrell Williams from N.E.R.D. on tracks “Lose Yourself to Dance” and “Get Lucky”. Some other featuring artists include Paul Williams who has done too much for me to mention here, so I’d recommend you go Google him! Todd Edwards is known for his house and garage house tracks, as well as his various remixes of songs by Klaxons and Justice. Finally Panda Bear who I honestly had never heard of until Random Access Memories, he sounds like a cool artist to check out.

Right, let’s get on with talking about tracks!

“Give Life Back to Music”

The song that introduces an album has to be great enough that the listener doesn’t turn off and judge that the whole album is crap, based off that one song. “Give Life Back to Music” reminds me of walking into a discotheque from the 1970’s. Everyone dressed in amazing clothes, with beautiful hair and gorgeous faces, figures AND don’t even get me started on the shoes! This song just sums up what the album has in store for us, with funky lyrics such as ‘let the music in tonight just turn on the music, let the music of your life give life back to music’. It just sets the scene for the rest of the album and with that we have an amazing opening track. If this is what disco was like when my parents were my age, then I wish I was hitting 60 soon!

“The Game of Love”

One of the more relaxed tracks on the album, “The Game of Love” is a love song about someone having their heart broken, even if the lyrics are repeated throughout the whole song and thus pretty simple, anyone can relate to them and the sound of the track just makes it work. It has a more funk sound to it and follows after “Give Life Back to Music” perfectly! Even though you can’t hear the vocalist’s true voice (one, if not both of the guys sang in this track) due to them being altered and such, it just makes the track even better, as it fits with the sound of the entire song. The bass in the background is really chilled and I’m going to try and find a tab for it soon to play myself. This song is amazing, without lyrics or not you can tell it’s a heartfelt track.

“Giorgio by Moroder”

When I first heard this track it surprised me and not in a bad way! I heard a European guy talking about his life and his musical career and it’s just a really nice introduction to the track. It’s actually Giovanni Giorgio talking, who I mentioned a bit about earlier on in this review. From what I get about this track is that Daft Punk tried to take the track from various different periods of sounds, such as what Giorgio talks about in his speech, an example being, ‘I wanted to do an album with the sounds of the 50s, the sounds of the 60s, of the 70s, and then have a sound of the future.’ which I thought was really interesting. As you listen to the track from start to finish, it keeps a similar beat, but the style of music changes. One minute it sounds electronic, next funk, then disco and then maybe a bit of blues and soul thrown in there. The track is nuts, but it sounds absolutely amazing and when this is played live, the crowd are going to go insane! The end of this track shows the clicks that Giorgio talks about in his little speech, which is pretty cool and a perfect end to the song.

“Within”

I wasn’t sure what to make of this track when I first heard it, but after a couple of listens (well more than a couple!) I’ve finally decided. The introduction reminds me of something you would hear/see being played in a small underground jazz bar in the 1990’s. I can imagine a blues band behind playing the backing track, whilst a guy or even a woman who would sing this song. It seems rather sad and the lyrics show how lost the song is supposed to be. It’s a relaxing song, the lyrics are meaningful (once again) and this is something I know I’ll listen to a lot when I’m feeling lonely or down as the lyrics personally are something I have thought about every once in a while. Otherwise, this song is lovely and definitely one for the ladies… With lots of cats… I kid, I kid!

“Instant Crush” (featuring Julian Casablancas)

This is my favourite song on the album, by far! When I first heard it I just knew I would fall in love with every aspect of it. I didn’t even realise who was singing on this track until I went to Google, let’s just say I made a little squeaky noise. As well as this it’s the first track to have a full set of lyrics (if that makes sense). The song is about… You know what? I can’t even figure out what it’s about! I had a look online and various people think it’s about a guy in love with a girl, but he doesn’t have the courage to tell her and thus he goes to a friend and misses out on his chance to tell her. But honestly I’m not sure, either way it’s not a cheery song, even if it does have an upbeat sort of sound to it. Either way I love this song and I know it’ll be one of my favourites for a very long time.

“Lose Yourself to Dance” (featuring Pharrell Williams)

After a couple of the sadder songs on the album, we’re thrown back into a discotheque style with Pharrell Williams singing the lyrics and either (if not both) of the Daft Punk guys singing a very catchy, ‘Come on, Come on’ in the background. This is the type of song that would be played at a gig or festival that everyone can clap and dance to, whether they knew the words or not. It’s just a happy, go lucky song about dancing and losing yourself whilst doing so. Definitely a winner for hot summer months, especially as it has a funky feel to it, I love it and can’t stop myself from singing along to it, ‘Everybody on the floor’ will definitely get you up to dance on a night out with your friends!

“Touch” (featuring Paul Williams)

I’m not such a fan of this track like I am with the rest of the tracks on this album, but that is purely for the way Paul Williams sings, but that’s just personal taste. It reminds me of something you would hear on an 80’s kids show and due to this I think it’s why I’m not a huge fan. There’s just something about this song that doesn’t fit with me, might be because of the time its set in, the vocals. I don’t know, I just know the only part of the song I like is from 3:00-6:15. It might grow on me the more I listen, but least favourite song on the album, it’s normal to have a least favourite I’m sure!

“Get Lucky” (featuring Pharrell Williams)

The first single from this album and a great one at that! Really catchy for the spring and summer, got a great vocalist on the track and the words are just awesome, typical Daft Punk track! The more I listened, the more I realised how it’s pretty much about having sex but the more you listen to the lyrics the more you realise it can mean more than that. It could mean the feeling you have when you meet somebody for the first time, whether it be on a night out or any other way. Either way, this song is awesome and if it is about sex, it isn’t that apparent and works! Good job with the first single guys!

“Beyond”

For sure my second favourite song on the album. Everything about it! The introduction reminds me of a superheroes theme tune, which I thought was pretty cool! Then listening to the lyrics it seems like they’re trying to say go out of your comfort zone and do things you wouldn’t normally. The lyrics are beautiful and so is the sound of the track itself. It’s relaxed, yet has a good beat with it. I’d describe it as a funk disco sound and for that it’s very unique due to what the lyrics are about. Overall beautiful song and everyone should hear it! ‘
You are the night, you are the ocean, you are the light behind the cloud. You are the end and the beginning, a world with time is not allowed’. Beautiful lyrics.

“Motherboard”

One of the two tracks on the whole album not to have any lyrics, but that’s because it doesn’t need them! When I first heard this track, I thought how amazing it sounded, but then the odd and peculiar water sounds and effects came into the track and I didn’t understand them whatsoever! But the more you listen to the track, the more you can understand why they’re there. This track definitely builds itself up as it plays and it’s really nice. I’m curious why they called this “Motherboard” mind. My guess is something to do with a boat, maybe travelling around the beaches of some hot, sunny location like Ibiza. Either way it’s a lovely song though, something to listen to whilst travelling I’d say.

“Fragments of Time” (featuring Todd Edwards)

This is another one of my least favourites on the album. It’s a great song but the lyrics just seem a bit too happy for my liking, but I get why they’re that way. It’s to make people feel cheerful and bubbly and it’s nice in that sense. Now I think about it, I don’t exactly dislike it, but if I was to choose between this and “Beyond”, I’d pick “Beyond”! There’s an awesome guitar solo towards the end, which works really well! Could imagine this song being played whilst travelling somewhere in American from one state to another. Oh how poetic am I? You must have asked that a couple of times throughout this review! It’s a pretty cool track, great for summer for sure. I reckon it’ll grow on me the more I listen to it.

“Doin’ It Right” (featuring Panda Bear)

Another one of my firm favourites from the album. The song just has an amazing funky electronic sound to it that will definitely have singing along to it for a very long time! It’s pretty much a song about going out and enjoying yourself. I couldn’t imagine this being played in a club mind unless it was mixed or mashed in with something else, it’d be a bit awkward to dance to. The tune to this song is catchy as hell and I keep finding myself humming and singing ‘Doing it right everybody will be dancing and will feeling it right, everybody will be dancing and be doing it right, everybody will be dancing and we’ll be feeling all right’, which is the main lyrics to this song. Either way I love this track, perfect for any day of the year, especially needs singing before and after a night out… In my opinion!

“Contact”

The final track of the album and the second one to have no lyrics whatsoever. It starts off with some NASA related talk, I’m not 100% sure where it’s from and when I went to Google I couldn’t find much about it either. I probably didn’t look properly though to be fair or missed the information. It sounds pretty cool though and not only introduces the last track of the album but it sort of helps to finish the album off too. The song is completely different to anything else on the album, sounding rather church like and then going into a bit of electronica, something that we all know Daft Punk is great at. It reminds me of something you would have heard on Discovery, which I love.

Okay this turned more into what I think of the album and how awesome each track is rather than a review. But I guess at the end of the day it was always going to be about what I like… Sorry LOVE about this album and why I think you, the reader should listen to it, if you haven’t done so already!

Overall this album isn’t a lot different to the style Daft Punk usually play, but it’s definitely a step forward into possibly creating a new genre for existing and new artists to try to create themselves. Daft Punk have inspired so many people and they’ll keep doing so, especially more so now Random Access Memories has come out.

Since Random Access Memories coming out in the UK it’s been in the number 1 spot for two weeks now, which is amazing! I’m not surprised but at the same time I’m really happy for Daft Punk, they really do deserve it!

I hope this review wasn’t too long for you (ahem it is like… 2,974 words!) and if you enjoyed it please, please, PLEASE leave a comment, like, share, do whatever you can to show your love. 🙂 If you didn’t then that’s cool.

This is the first album review I’ve ever written and I tried to write it the way I would want to read someone else.

I hope everyone had a great weekend, I know I did… Even though I was tired for most of it… But other than that, here’s looking to a new week huh?

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Hey, nice words about a great album and I agree that “Touch” is probably the worst on there, I always skip that track. “Doin It Right” and “Motherboard” are probably my favourites right now, but they keep changing! Love the fact the album is balanced perfectly with chill out songs, funky dance and more harder electronic stuff. Album is near perfect, has to be their best one to date! Oh.. nearly forgot about their Tron Legacy soundtrack.. that is up there, loved that too!

Thanks for your comment, it means a lot to get feedback! 😀 I’m so glad I’m not the only one who thinks this about Touch, it just feels rather weak and I think without the vocals it would have been amazing! I agree, aside from Alive 2007 (even though that’s a live album) this is by far my favourite of theirs so far. ^_^

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